Adnan Charara

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Biography
Adnan Charara was born in Lebanon, raised in Sierra Leone and now lives and works in Dearborn Michigan. He is a voraciously productive artist who has spent his life collecting and expressing ideas from a wide array of cultural sources. Having grown up in Lebanon and Sierra Leone, with an entire adulthood lived in the United States—while exhibiting in Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and the Americas—he has a unique artistic perspective of what multiculturalism and identity means in contemporary global society, as well as what “home” means. As a child, he loved making artwork, was encouraged by his family, and started to concentrate fully on honing his style and vision after getting a degree in Architecture and City Planning from Boston University.

Charara moved to Dearborn, Michigan with his wife in the late 1990s, and fell in love with the Detroit area while developing his studio practice and raising two daughters. He was featured on the PBS series Arab-American Stories in 2012. Recently he was nominated for a Smithsonian Fellowship and was honored by the Arab American Chamber of Commerce. In addition, he has served on the boards of several arts institutions, and has exhibited all over the United States and internationally, in Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. Working in multiple disciplines such as painting, jewelry, collage and sculpture.

Charara uses both humor and pain in a touching and evocative way. He imbues all of his work with character and narrative, in complex settings that draw on Arabic and Middle Eastern patterns and compositions, finding the connections between history and contemporary life. He works out of his sprawling studio in Detroit’s Midtown neighborhood.

Resume (CV)
American born 1962 in Lebanon, raised in Sierra Leone
Lives and works in Detroit, MI, U.S.A.

2021 Halal Metropolis UM Stamps; 2017 Detroit Performs, Detroit Public TV; 2012 Arab-American Stories, Detroit Public TV, April 2012; 2006 Adnan Charara, A film by Kathy Zarur, November 2006

Education
1987 – Boston University, City Planning
1986 – BFA, Architectural Design, Massachusetts College of Arts
1983 – AA, General Studies, Yakima Community College

Selected One Person Exhibitions
2021 – “Found & Reconstructed World” Objects, Bronze, Gifts of Art Gallery – University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
2018 – “Reconstructed Blueprints” University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
2017 – “Constructs (Noun)” University of Michigan North Campus, Ann Arbor, MI
2015 – “Recent Works” Carr Center, Detroit, MI
2014 – “Elements of Whimsy” Namdi Gallery, Detroit, MI
2014 – “New Directions” The Jerusalem Fund Gallery, Washington, DC
2012 – “The Story of the Hammer” Birmingham Bloomfield Art Center, Birmingham, MI
2011 – “Adaptability, Kenneth Paul Lesko Gallery, Cleveland, OH
2010 – “The Artist and His Prototypes” Gurari Collections, Boston, MA
2010 – “Hueman, The Jerusalem Fund Gallery, Washington DC

Selected Group Exhibitions
2022 – “Crossing Borders: Artists from the Middle East & the Americas” Arts Warehouse, Delray Beach, FL
2021 – “Halal Metropolis” Scarab Club; University of Michigan Stamps Gallery, Ann Arbor, MI
2019 – “Portray” Wasserman Project, University of Michigan Stamps Gallery, Ann Arbor, MI
2018 – “Long Ago and Far Away” Galerie Camille, Detroit, MI; “Out of the Crate” New Gifts and Purchases, Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, MI; “Affordable Art Fair” New York, NY
2017 – “Scenes Comiques – Scenes Tragiques” Galerie Camille, Detroit, MI; “Adnan Charara and Michel Erussard: Juxtaposiciones” sushipointibiza Art Gallery, Ibiza, Spain
2016 – “Scenes & Types” Sheehan Gallery, Olin Hall, Whitman College, Walla Walla, WA; “Big Sculpture at The Factory” 333 Midland Gallery, Detroit, MI
2015 – “The New International Society” Exhibition 1, Galerie Torstrasse161, Berlin, Germany; “New Art 2.0” Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art, Indianapolis, IN
2010 – “Neo Pangea: An Exploration of Cultural Hybridity” University of Essex, London, UK

Awards & Grants
Arab American Chamber of Commerce
23rd Annual Mayor’s Art Award, Dearborn Community Arts Council
Wayne County Council for the Arts, History and Humanities Recognition Awards
Lowell Office of Cultural Affairs
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

Service Positions and Honors
2014 Nominated for the Smithsonian Fellowship Program
July 2014 Panel Discussion, Concert of Colors
2008-2013 Board Member, Detroit Institute of Arts, Department of the Arts of Asia and the Islamic World

Collections
Adnan Charar’s work is in museums, public and private collection throughout Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Americas including the Detroit Institute Of Arts; Detroit Medical Center Children’s Hospital, Detroit, MI; University of Michigan; Arab American National Museum, Dearborn, MI; City of Brighton, MI; The Corcoran College of Art & Design, Washington, DC; Boston Public Library, Boston, MA; Whistler House Museum Of Arts, Lowell, MA
Essex University, London, UK; Russian Embassy, Sierra Leone, West Africa to name few.

Television and Virtual Events
2021 Halal Metropolis UM Stamps; 2017 Detroit Performs, Detroit Public TV; 2012 Arab-American Stories, Detroit Public TV, April 2012; 2006 Adnan Charara, A film by Kathy Zarur, November 2006 2005 Art Beat, Detroit Public TV, November 20, 2004  Selected Bibliography/Press
Pulp, Arts Around Ann Arbor “Colorful & Comical” Adnan Charara’s “Constructs (Noun)” by K.A. Letts (10/2017);
Osmosis I & II: The Art Of Adnan Charara by D.M. Forbes in conjunction with the Sheehan Gallery at Whitman College, Walla Walla, WA (2008); John Michael Kohler Arts Center, Sheboygan, WI {May/June issue/2008); The Sheboygan Press, Sheboygan, WI, “Letters Home” exhibit at Art space Kohler (6/2008); The Journal Newspaper, Northville, Michigan, “Art Walk to feature ‘humorous’ painter” by Jennifer Busch (4/2008); The Detroit News, Detroit, MI, Marketplace, “This junk finds a better life”, by Judith Solomon (11/2007)
Metro Times, Detroit, Michigan, “Tried and True” by Nadia Abou-Karr (4/2007)